By Bill Finley
It wasn't that Deterministic (Liam's Map) blew away the field in Saturday's fifth race at Saratoga, enroute to earning 'TDN Rising Star' honors. The $625,000 Keeneland September purchase won by just a half-length over 24-1 shot Hurricane Nelson (Khozan). But considering who he beat and how he did it, Deterministic very well may have a bright future.
“There's so much promise when you win a race like this,” said co-owner and NYRA Board member Steven Duncker. “This was a war out there today. Everybody liked their horses and they ran pretty fast. You want to live in the moment, but it's hard not to think of the future.”
In the eight-horse field, seven of the horses had sold at auction and the collective sales price was $2,925,000. That includes the $950,000 paid for Chaperone ($950,000) and the $525,000 paid for 6-5 favorite Eliminate (Curlin).
As the field broke from the gate in the seven-furlong test, things didn't look good for Deterministic. The Christophe Clement trainee, ridden by Joel Rosario, was seventh up the backstretch. Approaching the turn, Deterministic was in threatening position, but he was six-wide and would have to catch Hurricane Nelson, who grabbed a clear lead after putting away Informed Patriot (Hard Spun), the full-brother to GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Spun to Run (Hard Spun).
Deterministic is owned by the partnership of Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stable, Ken Langone, Duncker and Vicarage Stable. Duncker said that Deterministic is among the first group of horses he has owned with Viola.
“We've been friends with Vinnie for a long time and we all know of his success,” Duncker said. “He was nice enough to come to us and say let's get a group together and split them up between Christophe and Todd (Pletcher). It's been a great process. With owning horses, the consumption comes before the race. We've had a lot of fun with this for six, eight months. You bond a little more when that's the case. I've got to give a lot of credit to Vinnie for being such a great partner. He's an incredible guy and his team has made this special for us.”
Owned and trained by Gustavo Delgado, the trainer of GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic), the lone homebred in the race, turned in a strong performance to finish second. Eliminate, who is owned by the partnership of Spendthrift Farm and Repole Stable, was third, beaten four lengths.
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